Waldo County cocaine ring participant sentenced to 10 years in federal prison

BANGOR, Maine — A Belfast man who admitted late last year that he was involved in a cocaine ring that sold more than a pound of the illegal drug in Waldo County was sentenced Tuesday in federal court to 10 years behind bars.

Shawn Perito, 33, pleaded guilty in December in U.S. District Court to conspiracy with the intent to distribute more than 500 grams — more than a pound — of cocaine between late 2008 or early 2009, according to court documents.

U.S. District Judge John Woodcock sentenced Perito, who was a party to the drug selling with three others from Belfast, to 120 months in prison and five years of supervised release after he gets out.

Perito, Phillip Kelley, 34, of Belfast, and brothers Christopher Hurley, 29, and Matthew Hurley, 26, both of Belfast and Los Angeles, were indicted by a federal grand jury in September. Both Perito and Kelley were arrested on Nov. 2.

Christopher Hurley was later arrested in New York City, and Matthew Hurley was arrested in Los Angeles, according to court documents.

Perito “fronted” cocaine and would sell it if one of the drug dealers “was unavailable or out of cocaine,” court documents state.

The cocaine sold in the Belfast area was obtained from Carlos Flores Zamora, an illegal immigrant from Mexico who lived in the Bronx in New York City, according to court documents.

Flores Zamora, 34, was sentenced in September to 14 years and four months in federal prison. He admitted running the cocaine distribution ring from his Bronx apartment, according to previously published reports.

Kelley and Christopher Hurley pleaded not guilty to the conspiracy charge in November and Matthew Hurley pleaded not guilty to the same conspiracy charge in December. They are free on unsecured bail, and a trial for all three is scheduled in federal court on April 5.